Web Page 3067 11th May 2023 Bernard Miles First Picture: As Nat Titlark

Second Picture: As Long John Silver with Spike Milligan

Third Picture: Mermaid Theatre

Forth Picture: Portrait

Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE was born on 27th September 1907 and died on 14th June 1991. He was an English character actor, writer and director He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre that opened in the City of London since the 17th century He was known for playing character roles that usually had links to countrymen. His strong accent was typical of rustic dialects associated with the counties of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. His pleasant rolling bass-baritone voice made him a regular presence on the stage and in films for more than fifty years. In addition to his acting, he was a voice-over artist and published author. He was educated at Uxbridge County School, Pembroke College, Oxford and the Northampton Institute (later City University of London) in London.. In 1946 his comedy about the Home Guard Let Tyrants Tremble! was staged at the Scala Theatre in the West End, with Bernard Miles in the cast. By the 1950s, he had started to work in television. In 1951 he played Long John Silver in a British TV version of Treasure Island. A decade later he reprised the role for a performance of Treasure Island at the Mermaid Theatre in the winter of 1961–62, where the cast included Spike Milligan as Ben Gunn. Bernard Miles was always keen to promote up-and-coming talent. Impressed with the writing of English playwright John Antrobus, he introduced him to Spike Milligan, which led to the production of the one-act play The Bed Sitting Room. It was later expanded and staged by Bernard Miles at Mermaid Theatre on 31th January 1963, with critical and commercial success. He was also known for his comic monologues, often delivered with a rural dialect, which were issued on record albums.Nathaniel Titlark (1956–1957, Woodsman, There were only 10 Episodes, broadcast by BBCTV. But all are now lost He had a Long-running ITV commercial advertisement in the 1960 with him drinking and recommending Mackeson as a beverage that 'Looks good, tastes good and, by golly, does you good'. He married the actress Josephine Wilson, with whom he had two daughters and one son, the racing driver John Miles, in 1931. She co-founded and was involved actively with him in the Mermaid Theatre. She predeceased him on 7 November 1990. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1953, was knighted in 1969, and was created a life peer as Baron Miles, of Blackfriars in the City of London, on 7th February 1979. He was only the second British actor to receive a peerage, after Laurence Olivier. He survived his wife by only six months and died in June 1991. He had been born in the same year, and died on the same day, as the actress Peggy Ashcroft